In Good Spirits

The Green Line at Bar DKDC in Memphis

By Cheré Coen | Photography courtesy of Bar DKDC

Easy-to-assemble cocktail honors Memphis’ Green Line bike and pedestrian trail.
They say art reflects life, but in the case of Bar DKDC in Memphis, the art of the cocktail reflects Memphis’ long bike and pedestrian trail.
Bar DKDC opened in 2013, not long after the first phase of the Shelby Farms Greenline was unveiled, a rails-to-trails project connecting Midtown Memphis through Shelby Farms Parks to Cordova. This renovated Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway line now offers a long-paved thoroughfare that’s shaded, quiet and flat and is popular with bikers and hikers.
Karen Carrier, owner of Bar DKDC, wanted to honor this new city venture so her establishment came up with “The Green Line,” a cocktail featuring muddled cucumber, lime, St. Germain, mint and organic Artist Vodka, small batch vodka created with organic wheat and pure water. It’s a refreshing cocktail that mimics that back-to-nature emphasis of the Shelby Farms Greenline, she said.
“This cocktail honors Memphis’ true game changer, one of the most significant crown jewels in our urban rural city,” Carrier said.
The drink is the brainchild of former Bar DKDC waiter and mixologist Billy Worley, who helped open the restaurant, Carrier explained. Like other cocktails served at the bar-restaurant, the ingredients are few and easy to assemble, due to the establishment’s busy atmosphere.
“We wanted to keep our drinks simpler,” Carrier said.
Worley now works in the film industry but he’s a bit of a legend at DKDC, Carrier said. He visits the bar about one night a month and always gets a friendly reception.
“Everybody loves to come see him,” the Memphis native said. “He’s very personable and everybody loves him.”
Carrier received her bachelor of fine arts from The Memphis Academy of Arts and headed to New York for graduate school. She stumbled into the catering business with Susana Trilling — a renowned restauranteur who now runs Seasons of My Heart cooking school in Oaxaca, Mexico — and the duo opened several restaurants in the city. Carrier opened her own restaurant, Automatic Slim’s, in New York before returning to Memphis.

In addition to Bar DKDC, Carrier is the owner of Memphis’ Another Roadside Attraction Catering, The Beauty Shop Restaurant, Noodle Doodle do and The Mollie Fontaine Lounge. She is the previous owner of Automatic Slims Tonga Club, which she sold in 2008, and Do Sushi, which she turned into Bar DKDC, the name of which stands for “Don’t Know, Don’t Care.”
Bar DKDC serves up small plates that range from Southern favorites to global dishes in a fun, eclectic atmosphere. Live music is also on the menu, as is a vintage photo booth. And, of course, there’s a colorful and innovative cocktail menu, offering interesting names such as Get on the Good Foot, Dark N Stormy and Blue Suede Tini.
The following is the recipe for The Green Line.